The chief justice of India, which is also known as the chief justice of the Republic of India, is technically the chief judge of the Supreme Court and is the highest-ranking officer of the Indian Judiciary. The Chief Justice is appointed by the president of the country. The chief justice is the head of the Supreme Court and is responsible for the allocation of cases and appointment of constitutional benches which deal with important matters of law.
There are a total of 48 Chief Justices of India that have served since the establishment of the Supreme Court of India in 1950. The 48th Chief Justice of India is Nuthalapati Venkata Ramana, who started his service on 24 April 2021.
CJI – Important Points
- The Chief Justice of India is appointed by the President of India, and the CJI can serve until he or she reaches the age of 65. In addition, the CJI can only be removed by Parliament through an impeachment process.
- The President of India accepts the Chief Justice of India’s resignation. The Chief Justice of India is sworn in by the President of India.
- The first (Indian) Chief Justice of India was Justice Harilal Jekisundas Kania.
- From November 21, 1991, until December 12, 1991, Kamal Narain Singh served as the Supreme Court’s Chief Justice for only 17 days.
- Justice Y. V. Chandrachud, who served for 2696 days, is India’s longest-serving Chief Justice.
- Justice Fatimah Beevi was India’s first female judge and the first woman Supreme Court Judge. She was born in Kerala and served as the Supreme Court of India from October 6, 1989, to April 29, 1992.
- There are 29 SC judges in India right now (April 2021), including the Chief Justice of India. (With CJI, the total sanctioned strength is 34.)
List of Chief Justices of India
| S.no. | Chief Justice of India – List | Tenure |
| 1. | H.J Kania | 26 January 1950 – 6 November 1951 |
| 2. | M. Patanjali Sastri | 7 November 1951 – 3 January 1954 |
| 3. | Mehr Chand Mahajan | 4 January 1954 – 22 December 1954 |
| 4. | Bijan Kumar Mukherjea | 23 December 1954 – 31 January 1956 |
| 5. | Sudhi Ranjan Das | 1 February 1956 – 30 September 1959 |
| 6. | Bhuvaneshwar Prasad Sinha | 1 October 1959 – 31 January 1964 |
| 7. | P. B. Gajendragadkar | 1 February 1964 – 15 March 1966 |
| 8. | Amal Kumar Sarkar | 16 March 1966 – 29 June 1966 |
| 9. | Koka Subba Rao | 30 June 1966 – 11 April 1967 |
| 10. | Kailas Nath Wanchoo | 12 April 1967 – 24 February 1968 |
| 11. | Mohammad Hidayatullah | 25 February 1968 – 16 December 1970 |
| 12. | Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah | 17 December 1970 – 21 January 1971 |
| 13. | Sarv Mittra Sikri | 22 January 1971 – 25 April 1973 |
| 14. | A. N. Ray | 26 April 1973 – 27 January 1977 |
| 15. | Mirza Hameedullah Beg | 29 January 1977 – 21 February 1978 |
| 16. | Y. V. Chandrachud | 22 February 1978 – 11 July 1985 |
| 17. | P. N. Bhagwati | 12 July 1985 – 20 December 1986 |
| 18. | Raghunandan Swarup Pathak | 21 December 1986 – 18 June 1989 |
| 19. | Engalaguppe Seetharamaiah Venkataramiah | 19 June 1989 – 17 December 1989 |
| 20. | Sabyasachi Mukharji | 18 December 1989 – 25 September 1990 |
| 21. | Ranganath Misra | 26 September 1990 – 24 November 1991 |
| 22. | Kamal Narain Singh | 25 November 1991 – 12 December 1991 |
| 23. | Madhukar Hiralal Kania | 13 December 1991 – 17 November 1992 |
| 24. | Lalit Mohan Sharma | 18 November 1992 – 11 February 1993 |
| 25. | M. N. Venkatachaliah | 12 February 1993 – 24 October 1994 |
| 26. | Aziz Mushabber Ahmadi | 25 October 1994 – 24 March 1997 |
| 27. | J. S. Verma | 25 March 1997 – 17 January 1998 |
| 28. | Madan Mohan Punchhi | 18 January 1998 – 9 October 1998 |
| 29. | Adarsh Sein Anand | 10 October 1998 – 31 October 2001 |
| 30. | Sam Piroj Bharucha | 1 November 2001 – 5 May 2002 |
| 31. | Bhupinder Nath Kirpal | 6 May 2002 – 7 November 2002 |
| 32. | Gopal Ballav Pattanaik | 8 November 2002 – 18 December 2002 |
| 33. | V. N. Khare | 19 December 2002 – 1 May 2004 |
| 34. | S. Rajendra Babu | 2 May 2004 – 31 May 2004 |
| 35. | Ramesh Chandra Lahoti | 1 June 2004 – 31 October 2005 |
| 36. | Yogesh Kumar Sabharwal | 1 November 2005 – 13 January 2007 |
| 37. | K. G. Balakrishnan | 14 January 2007 – 12 May 2010 |
| 38. | S. H. Kapadia | 12 May 2010 – 28 September 2012 |
| 39. | Altamas Kabir | 29 September 2012 – 18 July 2013 |
| 40. | P. Sathasivam | 19 July 2013 – 26 April 2014 |
| 41. | Rajendra Mal Lodha | 27 April 2014 – 27 September 2014 |
| 42. | H. L. Dattu | 28 September 2014 – 2 December 2015 |
| 43. | T. S. Thakur | 3 December 2015 – 3 January 2017 |
| 44. | Jagdish Singh Khehar | 4 January 2017 – 27 August 2017 |
| 45. | Dipak Misra | 28 August 2017 – 2 October 2018 |
| 46. | Ranjan Gogoi | 3 October 2018 – 17 November 2019 |
| 47. | Sharad Arvind Bobde | 18 November 2019 – 23 April 2021 |
| 48. | NV Ramana | 23 April 2021 – Incumbent(Will retire on 26 August 2022) |